How did that rhyme ever become a cute thing to say to a loved one going to sleep! Bed and bug are two words that nobody should ever want to say in the same sentence without the word exterminator being present. But in a survey of more than 2000 hotel visitors, fewer than one in three could correctly identify an adult bedbug. So let us give you a rundown on this pest in hopes it will save you from paying for an expensive bed bugs treatment. Bed bugs are oval shaped, brown, and flat. They are about the size of an apple seed. Bed bugs feed on blood, and after feeding, their bodies swell up and they turn red.  Bed bugs leave behind fecal stains of digested blood, which resembles “little black spots”  They look like debris made by a dry erase marker. Bed bugs live in carpet, on fabric, and mainly in mattresses. They lay their eggs on fibrous materials, and they spread. It only takes about 1 month for a bed bug infestation to take over your home. You may be asking yourself, how do I keep that from happening? How do I stop them from even getting inside my home? Read on and you’ll thank us later.

Inspect the Area

Whether you’ve checked into a luxury resort, motel, or airbnb, spend a few minutes inspecting. You don’t have to tear the entire room apart or flip over the mattress. Look at the bed and other surrounding furniture for bed bug evidence. Pull back the sheets and look closely at the mattress. Look at the seams, surface, and sides. Near the headboard tends to be the busiest area of the bed. Due to the fact that it is a mostly undisturbed area. You can run a sticky lint roller over the area to pick up any bed bug evidence. You can also use a flashlight to help you see into hard to reach areas. If you don’t find anything, you can rest easy. Bed bugs hide, but if you check their hiding spots and see nothing, they are not around.

Protect your luggage

It is very very important to store your suitcase on hard surfaces when traveling. Bed bugs stay away from wood surfaces or metal, which both suitcase caddy and dressers are made of. If you are only staying a few nights, avoid unpacking your clothing. Leave your clothing inside your suitcase and zip it up if not in use. If you are staying for longer than that, have a separate laundry bag that doesn’t have holes in it. You can also use a lint roller on your suitcase to check for bed bug evidence. It is suggested to do this after air travel, due to your luggage touching other people’s bags and items that may have inadvertently picked up a hitchhiker.

Bag your clothes when you come home

Immediately strip your luggage and clean out the bag. Do not throw your clothing onto the floor or into a laundry basket with holes. A messy or dirty room doesn’t mean bed bugs, but it offers them more opportunities to hide and evade detection, which can lead to an infestation. After opening your suitcase, put clothing into a plastic bag immediately after. If you happen to have picked up bed bugs, pockets are a perfect hiding space for bugs. After placing your clothing in the bag and cleaning out the rest of your bags, place your laundry in the washer. Put it on a warm water setting, and immediately wash. Bed bugs can live with little air, but they can not live without any air. After putting it through the washer and dryer, the water, lack of oxygen, and heat will kill them off.

Use mattress encasement to kill bed bugs

Mattress encasements are big, thick plastic casing designed to fit around a mattress. The mattress is the most common place for bed bugs to hide. They are rather picky about where they live. They look for areas that never get too hot or too cold. It is also rare for the underneath of the mattress to be disturbed. They can hide there for months without any threats approaching them. They also like to hide in crevices and folds such as creases in the mattress and near the headboard. The mattress is also the closest you can get to their food source. Mattress encasements stop them from being able to get to you by sealing them to the mattress. They don’t have any way to gnaw through or bite you through the plastic. The only problem with the casing is how long it takes them to die. Bed bugs can live for up to a year without feeding. The reason being is the metabolism moves very slow. They don’t need water or much air. As such, it is vital that you do not open the casing. Leave the bugs entirely isolated. Box springs can also harbor bed bugs. They hide within the wood slats and folds in the fabric. Luckily they make box spring encasements as well. If you encase both box spring and mattress, it is hard to imagine bed bugs reaching you.

Clean rooms after guests visit

After a guest’s visit, it is important to make sure no one is staying afterwards. Ask guests to leave their shoes at the door on a mat or on the hard floor. It only takes 15 steps to get everything off your shoes and into the carpet. Do not put guests’ coats or bags on beds. If there is even one bedbug on guests clothing there is a possibility of it migrating into your bedding. If space is limited, or it is more convenient to put bags and coats on mattresses there is a solution. You can put a sheet or spare blanket under the coats and such. Right after that, wash the blanket and sheet. If your guests are staying overnight or over a week or two, there are still actions you can take. After guests leave, you can clean the closets by vacuuming thoroughly and disposing of the vacuum bag after words. Have your guests put suitcases on hard surfaces.

Bed Bug Treatment

In reading this we hope you don’t lose sleep or add to your stress. We hope this helps prepare you to prevent and protect your home, and even help get rid of bed bugs before the problem gets out of control. It is important to remember that bedbugs do not pose the public health risk of some other pests like ticks and lymes disease. Though bed bugs are pesky bugs, and can be a nuisance to your home, it is not something to let take over your home and life. Our highly trained Green Pest Management bed bug exterminators are here to keep that worry off of your mind. Give us a call at (302) 777-2390 for a free bed bug treatment quote, and get the best pest control near you for any other pests you may be dealing with. Hear what customers are saying about Green Pest Management: